Editorial: State worker pay raise is overdue

Florida’s 98,000 state employees are getting a pay raise. It’s the first time since 2013 that most of them have gotten a raise, and for some its been a decade.

One thing is for sure, the pay increase was deserved and overdue.

For years, Florida has had the distinction of paying the least per capita of any state in the nation toward funding its state government. The result, of course, is that the state, especially in high-demand occupations, has seen a steady stream of employees leaving. As an example, the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times reported that over the past seven years, half of the Florida Highway Patrol’s work force has left for better employment opportunities.

Under the across-the-board pay plan, most employees should receive their raise on Oct. 1. Here is how the pay raises break down:

• Employees making less than $40,000 a year will receive a raise of $1,400, while those earning more than $40,000 will see a $1,000-a-year raise.

• Correctional officers, which the state has been having particular difficulty hiring, will receive a $2,500 raise. Those working in prison mental health units will get an additional special 10 percent special duty pay “additive.”

• Most state law enforcement officers will receive a 5 percent increase, while the minimum pay will go up to $36,223.

• Judges, elected state attorneys and public defenders will receive a 10 percent salary hike.

Of course, like most things coming out of Tallahassee, getting the state employee pay raise through the Legislature was not easy. Even though some employees have not seen their paychecks grow for a decade, House Republicans refused to go along with the bill, which was championed by Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Latvala, unless it came with changes to the state pension system. Under the bill, new employees now have nine months to choose between a standard pension plan or a 401K. If they do not make a choice, they will automatically be put in the 401K plan.

Employee unions balked at the idea of changes to the state pension program — the House has been trying to go to an all-401K program for years — but without the compromise, it is likely the pay raise would have failed. And the raise was necessary not only as a matter of fairness to the employees, who do everything from fix roads to inspect restaurants to teach school, but it was also needed as a practical matter for the state to be able to maintain a work force.

We are glad our lawmakers finally recognized the injustice of not paying Florida’s state government employees competitively — or fairly. Even with the raises, no one can suggest state employees are overpaid, not by any stretch of the imagination.

It took a plan, a champion in Latvala and some compromise by both sides to deliver the much-needed pay raise. Although the across-the-board pay raise should have been a no-brainer, it followed the normal legislative path of opposition and obfuscation before an agreement could be reached and state employees were given what was overdue in coming.

Bottom line: Pay raises all around Oct. 1, state employees. You deserve it.